-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- What would we lose if we lost 220,000 postal jobs -LRB- 120,000 proposed through layoffs , 100,000 through attrition -RRB- , 3,700 post offices , 300 mail processing plants , or even the post office itself ?

With millions of jobs and businesses lost to the recent recession , these may seem like just more numbers , or more seemingly inevitable `` facts '' -- that in the electronic age we now rely on the private sector to deliver public services . But postal workers are people we depend on and post offices are places we want to know will always be there .

Downsizing the U.S Postal Service - - which is so low on money , it 's in imminent danger of default -- may seem like a ripple in this troubled economy , but it promises to be a social tsunami if action is n't taken soon to save it .

For one thing , the postal service has been a huge employer . Before I became a history professor I carried mail for the Postal Service for 20 years . As with many government jobs , you 're hired for this one based on achieving a high score on a competitive exam . Veterans , roughly 20 % of today 's postal workforce -LRB- though once well over 50 % -RRB- earn extra points on this exam , thus giving them a head start and a job to come home to after military service .

Who were my co-workers ? Just everyday people who , like me in 1980 , were attracted to a job that had good benefits , job security , and started at $ 8.10 an hour . This was as a result of the 1970 nationwide postal wildcat strike that began in New York after postal workers declared they were tired of earning $ 2.95 an hour and having to work a second job or collect food stamps to make ends meet .

In collecting oral histories for a book I later wrote on the postal service , I interviewed those who had worked before 1970 , including those who struck . The postal worker 's job could include processing mail as clerks and mail handlers , delivering it as letter carriers , driving it as truck drivers , and as maintenance workers keeping up the vehicles , buildings , and grounds . Above all , postal workers were proud of having a career serving the public .

The job allowed many to move into the ranks of middle-class wage earners , where they were able to buy homes and send their children to college . But they were also members of extended families and community networks . Many started small businesses on the side , adopted foster children , were active in civic organizations , or enrolled in college classes . Their jobs mattered to communities .

Postal jobs have especially played a key role in black community development . The post office has long been one of the largest employers of African-Americans . Even as they faced discrimination at other jobs , many found work there with college degrees or military service under their belts . By 1970 , they had become twice as likely as whites to work for the post office , and even before the wage bump that year , the job had afforded them a middle-class status and the ability to accumulate wealth .

Today the nation relies on a vast mailing industry that operates primarily for profit . But that network is underpinned by the U.S. Postal Service -- a self-supporting quasi-corporate government agency that remains committed to universal service by constitutional and congressional mandate .

Many Americans may not realize that it was the Post Office that pioneered parcel post in 1916 in response to the overpriced , poor , and inconsistent service disaster that was private package delivery . Or that the USPS came up with the concept of overnight mail and zip codes that UPS and FedEx rely on so heavily in their business .

Many do n't make the connection that e-commerce not only competes with but also generates U.S. mail . Or that during the turn of this century -- the Postal Service 's peak years of revenue and mail handling -- it was common to hear competitors and political ideologues calling for the agency 's privatization , while at the same time blocking USPS innovations like the proposed 1997 Global Postal Link program to help expedite parcels through customs .

Or that the post office is the victim of an artificial deficit created by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act , signed by President George W. Bush , which forces the Postal Service to pre-fund its retiree health benefits 75 years into the future over the next 10 years . What should have been annual revenue surpluses for the Postal Service over the last decade have instead contributed to nightmare annual deficits as it is forced to pay $ 5.5 billion a year out of operating funds to satisfy this unnecessary and devastating mandate . .

We lose more than numbers when we lose postal jobs and post offices , or even the existence of a universal postal service . We lose more than just people committed to providing service , but also people engaged with their communities . People able to consume goods that others produce to help drive local economies .

We would also lose the promise of jobs in the future that provide what has become a more dependable service over two centuries since the founding of this country -LRB- the post office was started in 1775 -RRB- . An alternative to this loss ? People could demand that Congress treat the Postal Service as a venerable American institution worthy of fulfilling its enduring mandate , for which it has recruited generations of skilled and dedicated professional government employees .

A good start would be H.R. 1351 , introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch , D-Massachusetts , a bill that would at least allow the Postal Service to transfer surplus pension funds to satisfy the retiree health plan pre-fund requirement . And that pre-fund requirement ultimately needs to be repealed to keep the Postal Service from running off the rails .

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Philip F. Rubio

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Philip Rubio says the U.S. Postal Service threatened by major cuts or even closure

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He says post office represents people , places we rely on ; cuts will have huge effect in U.S.

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He says it 's a major employer , innovator and fulcrum of national communications system

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Rubio : Congress must assume responsibilty for finding a way for postal service to stay afloat